A guide vane made of composite material for a gas turbine engine, and it's method of fabrication

Abstract

A guide vane for a gas turbine engine, the guide vane including an airfoil made of composite material having fiber reinforcement densified by a matrix, the fiber reinforcement being obtained from pre-impregnated long fibers agglomerated in the form of a mat, the airfoil being provided at least on a leading edge with a reinforcing strip, the reinforcing strip being made from a single strip of unidirectional fabric or of textile, or by stacking a plurality of pre-impregnated plies of unidirectional fabric or of textile made of carbon fibers or of glass fibers, and at least one platform positioned at a radial end of the airfoil, the platform being made of composite material having fiber reinforcement densified by a matrix, the fiber reinforcement being obtained from pre-impregnated long fibers.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to the general field of guide vanes for gas turbine aeroengines.[0002]Example applications of the invention comprise in particular outlet guide vanes (OGV), inlet guide vanes (IGV), and variable stator vanes (VSV) for an aviation turbine engine.[0003]Typically, each guide vane of a gas turbine aeroengine presents two platforms (inner and outer) that are fitted onto the airfoil. Such guide vanes form rows of stator vanes that serve to guide the gas stream passing through the engine so that it takes on appropriate speed and angle.[0004]Guide vanes are generally made of metal, but it is becoming common practice to make them out of composite material, in particular in order to reduce their weight. Unfortunately, methods of fabricating guide vanes out of metal material or out of composite material suffer from certain drawbacks.[0005]In particular, for metal guide vanes, the tooling used for fabricating them is expensive and t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes a structure for a guide vane used in aviation that helps to reduce bending and vibration while maintaining stiffness. The structure includes a mat made of long fibers that gives the guide vane overall stiffness, and a reinforcing strip made of unidirectional fabric or textile that accentuates stiffness locally to limit bending and avoid uncontrolled vibrations. The reinforcing strip can be made from unidirectional fabric or textile made of carbon fibers or glass fibers, depending on the forces to which the guide vane is subjected. Using textile reinforcement can increase stiffness and provide protection against abrasion and erosion. Overall, this structure improves the performance and durability of the guide vane in aviation applications.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, methods of fabricating guide vanes out of metal material or out of composite material suffer from certain drawbacks.

In particular, for metal guide vanes, the tooling used for fabricating them is expensive and takes a long time to make.

Specifically, such guide vanes are typically obtained by casting, which requires two different mold bodies, namely a permanent body that is expensive and lengthy to fabricate and that requires treatment against wear, and a body made of sand with an agglomerating agent, which body needs to be remade very frequently.

Laminating / draping methods are expensive, and furthermore they are not adapted to fabricating guide vanes of small sizes or having complex form factors.

Resin injection methods lead to faulty positioning of the fiber preform while it is being shaped or while it is being consolidated, and there are also risks of delamination between laminations.

Furthermore, some of those fabrication methods require separate platforms to be fitted to the airfoil, leading to additional fabrication costs.

Unfortunately, shaping and assembling metal foil on the leading edge of an airfoil is an additional operation that is lengthy and expensive.

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